There was screaming and crying coming from all around. Stacey could only lay where she was and watch. The minotaur was too big and heavy. The axe poking at her was a danger as well. From what she could see of the battle, men mostly distracted the animal headed beastmen while the women struck the final blows to kill them. Sometimes men and women would save each others lives. Sometimes they would fail.
The animal headed beastmen were far stronger than normal humans.
The weight on her increased.
A shaggy wolf's head peered over at her from over the bulk of the minotaur. A slimy tongue washed Stacey's face and sniffed. Then it withdrew.
A moment later, the minotaur's body was flung aside. She could breathe. Stacey rolled over onto her hands and knees with a wince but felt hands catch her already bruised waist again. Her hips were dragged upwards and she felt a bulge push against her bared buttocks.
She hadn't realised that her buttocks were already bare earlier but now she felt the danger and vulnerability of being exposed. With no thin layer of cloth to act as a barrier, anything could happen. Stacey scrabbled and kicked, doing everything she could think of to try and escape the strong grip. She did not want to be...
The beastman behind her hadn't yet found her entrance when it suddenly stopped. It's grip on her loosened. Then it slowly toppled over, bringing Stacey to the ground with it.
Stacey was freed from its grip and a familiar hand patted her cheeks.
"Hey, you still alive? I'm sorry I'm late. It didn't manage to get in, did it?"
Stacey dumbly shook her head at the evil man who was hugging her.
"Good. That's good," he breathed a sigh of relief, pushing something into her hand. "Here, hold this for now and stay close to Jannick and myself. There's still a few beastmen to get rid of."
That was when Stacey noticed the other man standing beside the evil man. He was wearing glasses and held a sword. She had seen him around before, bringing messages and things.
Looking down, she realised a long, thick knife had been placed in her hand. She closed her hand around the handle of it as she stared at the evil man. Now that she saw him, she remembered. He was the other target that needed to be killed. The other one that needed to die.
With a snarl, she brought the knife up to stab the evil man but he seemed to have been expecting it. He disarmed her easily and pinned her face down to the ground, with her arms behind her back.
"Sir, I believe you will need to stay away from her until she snaps out of it," said a dry voice.
"Fine," said the evil man's glum voice, sounding a bit guilty. "I was the one who did this to her, after all, or she would never have succeeded in learning how to fight."
"With all due respect, sir, how would you know if you never gave her the chance?"
"She's competitive but she's no natural fighter or killer. She's too soft and there wasn't enough time to train her properly. This was the safest way with the highest chances."
"Now you've saved her life in battle. Do you want me to go ahead and add both your names into the waiting list for the wedding registry after the battle, sir?"
"Yes. Do that. I'll get going now. Make sure she gets seen to after the battle. After that, she has to help with the cleanup. She still has those eight community hours to serve."
"Yes. Of course, sir."
Stacey felt a different more wiry pair of hands take over in holding her down. At that, she stopped struggling and lay still.
"My lady," said the man holding her down, "have you calmed down now?"
"Yes," Stacey replied.
"I am going to release you now, but if you attempt to attack me, I will hold you down once more until someone arrives with sedatives. Is that understood?"
"Understood. No attacking."
The man released Stacey and she slowly stood up, rubbing her wrists. The man tore off the shirt on the body of a beastman and tied it around her waist to help her cover up her bare lower body. Stacey frowned at him, the hand with her knife twitching while he helped her put the huge, smelly shirt on.
"My lady, why are you looking at me with that expression?" Jannick asked her.
"You were too close," Stacey said.
"My apologies," Jannick gave her a little bow. "I just wanted to help you cover back up."
A cheer rose when the last beastman fell.
"The battle is over," Jannick commented with a sigh of relief. "Now comes the long clean up. You will be expected to help after you have seen a doctor."
Paramedics and nurses were triaging patients at the edge of the battlefield. The seriously injured were taken away by ambulance first. Stacey was turned away from first aiders when they saw her still able to stand and walk around.
"We shall help clean up the battlefield first then," Jannick twitched his nose and advised. "Your blood wounds have already stopped bleeding, so you should be fine. The other injuries will be seen to in time."